Clemson, Kansas State fall in AP Top 25 rankings

NEW YORK (AP) — Clemson and Kansas State tumbled in The Associated Press college football poll after losing for the first time this season, and the top five teams in the rankings held their ground heading into the showdown between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

Clemson slipped five spots after losing 31-17 at Georgia Tech and Kansas State fell seven spots to No. 17 after getting thumped 58-17 by Oklahoma.

LSU received 47 first-place votes from the media panel, Alabama had 10 and No. 5 Boise State had one.

No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Stanford held on to their spots after victories, while the Broncos were idle.

Georgia Tech's upset pushed the Yellow Jackets back into the rankings at No. 22 and Auburn jumped back in at No. 25.

The losses by Clemson and Kansas State leave six undefeated teams in major college football — the top five and No. 14 Houston.

The Harris poll has the same top five as the AP poll. In the USA Today coaches' poll, the only difference in the top five is Stanford is No. 3 and Oklahoma State is fourth.

The rest of the top 10 in the AP rankings had Oregon at No. 6, Oklahoma moving up four spots to No. 7, Arkansas at No. 8 and Nebraska and South Carolina right behind.

Clemson at 11th was followed by Atlantic Coast Conference rival Virginia Tech.

Michigan is No. 13, its best ranking since Nov. 4, 2007.

Michigan State is No. 15, followed by Penn State, Kansas State, Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona State.

The final five were Southern California, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Auburn.

The defending national champion Tigers have fallen out of the rankings three times this season, only to work their way back in.

Falling out after losses were two Big 12 teams.

Texas A&M (5-3) was upset at home 38-31 in overtime by Missouri and is unranked for the first time this season.

Texas Tech moved into the rankings last week for the first time this season by beating Oklahoma. The Red Raiders followed that up with a 41-7 loss at home to Iowa State and are unranked again.

Texas Tech accomplished a rare feat with their dramatic swing, becoming only the second team since the AP expanded to a Top 25 in 1989, to receive no votes in the rankings one week, be ranked the next week, then receive no votes the following week.

Washington did that in September 2009, when the Huskies beat No. 3 USC 16-13 to jump into the rankings at No. 24, then lost to Stanford 34-14 the following week.